Federer, Nadal lift 2010 ATP awards

By DPA, IANS
Saturday, November 20, 2010

LONDON - Roger Federer won a fan-vote popularity poll while Rafael Nadal lifted the sportsmanship honour for the first time in ATP award results announced Saturday prior to the start of the season-ending World Tour Finals.

Year-ending number one Nadal beat Federer for the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award decided in a poll among the players. The Swiss Federer had won the award the past six years.

Federer, meanwhile, edged Nadal to win the fan-vote category for a record eighth consecutive year, with 47 percent of the vote to Nadal’s 42 percent.

Bob and Mike Bryan, who finished atop the doubles rankings for 2010, took the Doubles Team award for the sixth straight year with 44 percent of votes. Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic attracted 14 percent of votes, with Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan third with 12 percent.

The Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award went to Bopanna and Qureshi as the “Indo-Pak Express” sought to build a bridge of friendship between their respective countries.

Kazak Andrey Golubev won Most Improved Player of the Year as voted by his peers. German Tobias Kamke jumped from number 254 in 2009 to 67 to lift Newcomer of the Year honours.

The 59th-ranked Dutchman Robin Haase won the Comeback award after knee surgeries in July 2008 and again in May 2009.